This application claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 33650/2001, filed on Feb. 9, 2001, and which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to seasoning compositions, which can impart a good salty taste to food and reduce the amount of sodium chloride in the food. The present invention also relates to foods, which contain such a seasoning composition. The present invention further relates to processes for preparing foods having a good taste even when the amount of sodium chloride in the food is reduced.
2. Discussion of the Background
While table salt (sodium chloride) has been widely utilized as a basic seasoning agent for cooking food, it is known that the excessive intake of salt has a bad influence upon diseases of the circulatory system such as hypertension, heart disease, and the like.
Although an attempt to utilize potassium chloride as a salt-replacer or salt substitute has been made, the use of potassium chloride as a salt-replacer is not completely satisfactory owing to its stimulative bitter taste.
In order to solve the above-noted problem with the use of potassium chloride as a salt-replacer, there have been reported processes for mitigating the bitter taste of potassium chloride by incorporating into the potassium chloride one or more substances selected from among glutamate, an amino acid, salt of an organic acid, a nucleic acid seasoning substance and a sweetener having a high degree of sweetness such as glycyrrhizin (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 138359/1982, 187761/1984, 7111/1994, and 187841/1999). However, the undesirable bitter taste and harsh taste of potassium chloride per se as stated above could not be sufficiently mitigated by these prior art technologies.
Accordingly, it is one object of the present invention to provide a seasoning composition which can mitigate the peculiar bitter taste and harsh taste of potassium chloride and which can impart a good salty taste to food with a reduced amount of table salt (sodium chloride).
It is another object of the present invention to provide foods, which have a good salty taste and a low content of sodium chloride.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a process for preparing such foods.
These and other objects, which will become apparent during the following detailed description, have been achieved by the inventors"" discovery that the peculiar bitter taste and harsh taste of potassium chloride can be mitigated by incorporating a sugar alcohol and sucrose together with sodium glutamate and a nucleic acid seasoning substance into potassium chloride in a specific ratio.